What to Expect at E3 2011

The country's largest video game trade show starts June 6, with every major gaming company getting ready to show off its ware. Here's what to expect at E3 2011.

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This year's Electronic Entertainment Expo is shaping up to be a big one, with major hardware announcements expected from at least two of the three big names in console gaming and a ton of high-profile titles scheduled for the summer, fall, and holiday seasons.

Nintendo's New Console
First, there's the sure thing on the hardware front: Nintendo and its upcoming successor to the Wii. This is confirmed: Nintendo will be announcing a new home console at E3. This isn't confirmed: any and all details about the new home console at E3. Big N has kept the world successfully in the dark about the Wii 2 (or Wii HD, or Project Café, depending on who you read), to the point that the system could literally be anything. We don't know if it will be high-def, if it will have a new online service, if its controllers will have high-def touch screens (an actual rumor), nothing. OF course, that's why we'll be at Nintendo's press conference at the start of the show to report exactly what the company is launching as soon as the curtains are pulled.

Besides the new home console, Nintendo will be putting a lot of effort into building up enthusiasm for the 3DS. The 3D handheld launched last month, and so far it's seen only a small collection of 3DS games and little to no online services. Kid Icarus: Uprising, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, the upcoming, unnamed Super Mario Bros. game, and the 3DS eStore will all likely be shown off at the show.

Sony's Game: NGP, More PS3
Sony will almost certainly reveal more details surrounding its upcoming handheld system, codenamed the Next Generation Portable, or NGP. We already know it's going to be a fast, bright, shiny handheld that looks vaguely like the PlayStation Portable. It will have a 5-inch OLED touch screen, built-in 3G, and basically serve as a small gaming tablet with buttons. However, official price and availability aren't set in stone yet, nor are launch titles or upcoming major games for the system. Those details will likely get sorted out at E3.

On the home console front, Sony likely won't offer anything new. While the PlayStation 3 is as old as the Wii, its much more advanced graphics have kept it from experiencing much in the way of aging. Current PS3 titles look great, and Sony probably won't announce a replacement for the system for at least another year. The company has always been conservative with new console iterations, letting the previous generation go on as long as possible, even after new hardware launches, and there's plenty of life left in the PS3 yet.

The Xbox Question
That brings us to Microsoft, which doesn't have a handheld system in the market and whose home console is the oldest (six years, as of November 22) of the current generation. The Xbox 360 still makes a valiant effort at gaming and is a very solid competitor to the PS3 even now. However, the system has been around for some time, and with Nintendo presenting a new system already, it stands to gain much from getting in on the next generation of hardware. Just as the Xbox 360 launched a full year before the Wii and PlayStation 3, the Xbox 3/720/Next-Gen could come out a year before Sony. That year head-start the Xbox 360 enjoyed helped seal major market share for several years, and Microsoft might try to get that advantage once again, while it still has the chance.

Of course, hardware won't be the only highlight of E3. Expect plenty of news and previews about upcoming games planned all the way through next year. From Nintendo, series favorites Mario and Link will return in two yet-unnamed Mario Bros. projects and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword on the Wii. The company will also show off the long-awaited return of "Kid Icarus" himself, Pit, in Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS. We might also see a new Metroid game, either 3D and on the Wii or either 2D or 3D on the DS/3DS. After the poorly received Metroid: Other M, bounty hunter Samus Aran lost a lot of respect, and it will be interesting to see if Nintendo will attempt a mea culpa for the latest chapter.

Games, Games, Games: Titles From Sega, EA, Activision, and More
Sega could stand out as the dark horse in the software field at E3. Sonic the Hedgehog has had a very, very bad time over the last decade, with the company trying repeatedly to rekindle the magic the blue speedster held in the 90's. With Sonic Generations on the 3DS, Sega might (emphasis on might) just do that. Fortunately, Sega doesn't pin all its hope on its old mascot; a new Shinobi game is in the works for the 3DS, and while the Thor video game was criticized heavily by most critics as a mediocre cash-in, Captain America: Super Soldier might be a surprise winner, like X-Men Origins: Wolverine was in 2009.

EA, as always, will be big at E3, with plenty of games across all genres on the way. The biggest titles are Battlefield 3 and Mass Effect 3. Battlefield 3 is the fifth (or 18th; the series is numbered oddly) in EA's series of multiplayer shooters, and is the only current contender to stand up against Activision's Modern Warfare 3 in the online modern combat arena. Mass Effect 3 is the final chapter in the critically acclaimed Mass Effect trilogy, and will involve series hero Commander Shepherd directly combating the timeless, massive threat of the Reapers and their crusade to cleanse the galaxy of all life. Besides those two big titles, keep an eye out for Alice: Madness Returns, the sequel to 2000's American McGee's Alice, racing game Need for Speed: The Run, and perennial blockbuster Madden NFL 12.

Speaking of Activision, Modern Warfare 3 will be the company's biggest title at E3, but it won't be the only game there. Adorable dragon Spyro returns in Spyro Adventures, and Spider-Man: Edge of Time takes Marvel's web-slinging mascot and partners him with his counterpart from the year 2099, Miguel O'Hara. Don't expect much World of Warcraft, Starcraft 2, or Diablo 3 news from E3; Blizzard-Activision saves the Blizzard announcements for Blizzcon.

Among French publisher Ubisoft's games at E3, Assassin's Creed: Revelations is the standout title. While not specifically Assassin's Creed III (that game is expected within the next year or two), AC:R will tie up the loose ends of series protagonists Altair and Ezio's lives in a multigenerational adventure through Constantinople, presumably to make room for a new protagonist in a new age (after the 11th century of Altair and 15th century of Ezio) in Assassin's Creed III. New Tom Clancy games, including news about the upcoming, Kinect-enabled Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, are expected to be shown off, along with upcoming western crime game Call of Juarez: The Cartel.

Is that going to be it? Of course not! E3 will have dozens and dozens of publishers, developers, and manufacturers, all vying for press and consumer attention. Somewhere, tucked in a tiny booth in the Los Angeles Convention Center, could be the next super-smash puzzle-action-RPG-racing game hit to take the gaming world by storm. These are just the big shots and what we can be pretty sure will be at the expo. There's plenty more to come

Will Greenwald has been covering consumer technology for more than six years, and has served on the editorial staffs of CNET.com, Sound & Vision, and Maximum PC. Since graduating from Syracuse University in 2005, Will has been an active technology journalist both online and in print. His work and analysis has been seen in GamePro, Tested.com, Geek.com, and several other publications. He currently covers consumer electronics in the PCMag.com labs, focusing on Blu-ray players, set-top boxes, and other home theater equipment.
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